This is a "complaint"? You're kidding, right.

[Mark Padgett]

Seventh grade boys rec yesterday, working with a fairly experienced partner. Green team beats white team by about 20. After the game, the green coach comes over to us (we couldn't leave because we had another game) with a "complaint", as he calls it. He was upset because we didn't tell one of the kids on the white team enought times to tuck in his jersey. No - I am not making this up. This kid is "cholesteral challenged" and his jersey would sometimes come out during play. He started the game with it tucked in and every time he came off the bench, it was tucked in. We told him probably five or six times and each time he tucked it in but this coach thought we should have told him another five or six times.

At first, I thought he was just kidding, but he wasn't. He explained the reason he was upset was that the previous week, the ref at that game told his kids repeatedly to tuck their jerseys in and if they didn't keep them tucked in, they would have to sit down (on the bench, not the court). He thought we should be consistent with the other ref. I guess he wanted us to "call it both ways".

I looked at him with a straight face and told him I would file his complaint with the league commissioner and then the Board of Directors would hold a hearing on it. He just stared and then said, "OK, thanks". When he left, my partner patted me on the back, laughed and said, "I gotta remember that one".

That has to be the most lame "complaint" I've ever heard. Any of you guys or gals ever heard anything as insignificant along those lines?